For four seasons, MCAL coaches sought to limit the damage that Novato High's Darin Aman could do to them on the basketball court. As Aman's career numbers show, those coaches were not always successful.

Aman, a four-year starter for the Hornets, departed Novato in 1988 as the school's all-time scoring leader with 1,780 points and as the career scoring leader in MCAL play with 968 points. His presence helped Novato improve its MCAL record from 2-12 his freshman season to 4-10, 8-8 and 13-3 in the following three seasons.

"Darin Aman was a great scorer, he was," said Bret Tovani, who as San Rafael's coach had the responsibility for game planning to at least slow down Aman for four seasons. "Darin could really shoot it. Anytime you played Novato, you had to figure out how you were going to defend Darin Aman."

Aman's ability eventually led to multiple accolades for him in high school before he moved on to play at the University of Utah and Gonzaga University. He then found his way to Australia, where he enjoyed a professional basketball career.

And now, he can credit that career for his induction into the Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame, an honor he and nine other men and women will receive on Saturday during a ceremony at the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Rafael.

"It's an honor," Aman said. "I'm very humbled and grateful that the Marin Athletic Foundation recognized me for being inducted into the Hall of Fame."

Aman began playing basketball at about age 5 and his father, Dale, said he could see early on that his son has some special abilities with a basketball in his hand. Dale said it was particularly satisfying that he was along for the ride to witness those skills, as he coached Darin through youth basketball and then at Novato High.

"I'm very proud of him," Dale said. "The thing that I am not surprised about is that he still holds the scoring record. I mean, that's 24 years ago. And he wasn't surrounded by a great deal of talent, especially his freshman and sophomore years, so that makes the accomplishment better. Anyway, it was quite a thrill for me."

Darin, a guard who stood 6-foot-2 by the time he left Novato High, earned plenty of accolades on the basketball court. In addition to his all-MCAL honors, he was named to the All-Bay Area first team and the all-Northern California first team his junior and senior seasons, nabbing the North Bay Player of the Year award as a senior. That same year, he was among 1,000 players named to the McDonalds All-America team and was a first-team all-tournament choice at the Avia Senior Prep Classic.

"It was always very important to me when I was in grade school and high school," Darin said of basketball. "I always loved the game; I still do. And I always envisioned it being a part of my life — at least when I was in school. "

"He was a very prolific scorer," Tovani said. "But that's not the only thing he could do. He could rebound the basketball — he had good hops. And we tried to keep the ball out of his hands because we knew that he was going to be 'the guy.' "... We just tried to make life more difficult for him."

Though Aman didn't play basketball during his senior year in college, he had done enough up to that point to have established a reputation as a player that he received in invitation to play professionally in Australia. There, he took part in the 1994 national playoffs before he interrupted his career to return to the United States for personal reasons.

Unfortunately for Aman, when he attempted to rejoin the league after his hiatus, the league had contracted. With fewer teams, there was no opportunity for Aman to play again.

"We were pretty good, we had a pretty good team," said Aman, who compared the level of play to NCAA Division II. "I had a great experience down there. And I've had a great experience playing basketball. At the time, I did try to go back, but it really wasn't difficult to give it up. I mean, basically I knew that I wasn't good enough to advance any higher.

"I had pretty much tapped my potential. I would not have been able to advance any higher. I could have gone back — I was actually offered a teaching position in Brisbane — but at the time I had to come back. So when I came back here, there wasn't really an opportunity to go back that season. And I was OK with that. Like I said, I am very grateful for the playing career that I have had."

These days, Aman, 42, gets his basketball fix playing in recreation leagues once or twice a week.

"I still have of fun playing the game," Aman said. "As far as missing it, I can still play in recreational leagues; I still have fun doing that. But as far as competitively, it's for fun now, and I still have fun playing."

The Marin Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame Class of 2012 will be inducted on Saturday. Reception starts at 5:30 p.m. with grand entrance of the 10 inductees at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. People interested in attending can email info@marinathleticfoundation.org. Cost is $70 with tickets also available at the door.